He fractured the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot early in Tuesday night’s 81-49 loss to No. 19 North Carolina.

Georges-Hunt is Georgia Tech’s leading scorer. The junior swingman is averaging 13.6 points and 5.5 rebounds, the Yellow Jackets’ only player scoring in double figures this season.

“Marcus has had such a tremendous junior year, it is very disappointing to all of us that he won’t be able to complete his great play in Greensboro at the ACC tournament,” Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory said. “Marcus is such a determined and committed athlete. We know he will make a full recovery and come back stronger and better.”

Georgia Tech finished its regular season at 12-18 overall and 3-15 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, including four straight losses.

The Yellow Jackets will play Wake Forest or Boston College in the opening round of the ACC tournament on Tuesday in Greensboro, N.C.

CHICAGO — Craig Sager returned to his familiar spot on the NBA sideline Thursday after being treated for leukemia.

The sideline reporter worked Oklahoma City’s game against Chicago for TNT, 11 months after he was diagnosed with leukemia.

“I’m 60 yards shorter off the tee, but I feel good,” Sager told The Associated Press upon his arrival at the United Center.

Best known for his outlandish outfits, Sager wore a red, black and gray plaid jacket and matching Nike shoes that sparkled in the dark for the occasion.

“Bulls colors,” he explained.

The 63-year-old Sager hadn’t worked a game since April 10 in Dallas when he felt ill and sought treatment from Mavericks team physician Dr. Tarek O. Souryal, who had previously performed Sager’s knee surgery.

With a dangerously low hemoglobin count, Sager had six blood transfusions over a 24-hour period before returning to Atlanta.

Hawks sign Jarell Eddie

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Hawks have signed guard Jarell Eddie to a 10-day contract.

Eddie, from Virginia Tech, averaged 11.9 points and 3.3 rebounds in 37 games this season with the Austin Spurs of the NBA Development League. He won the D-League 3-point contest during the NBA’S All-Star weekend.

Eddie was with the Hawks in training camp and played in three preseason games.

Public tryout for goalies

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers are holding goalie auditions for anyone who wants to play.

No, really.

The Panthers announced Thursday plans for a contest that will give someone a amateur tryout contract and the chance to be Florida’s backup practice goalie — for one day.

Earlier this week, the Panthers considered putting a forward or an assistant coach in goal after regular netminders Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya were both injured in the same game.

Panthers executive chairman Peter Luukko says the team expects “a great turnout for this ultimate fan experience.” Successful applicants will be invited to a tryout on March 16.

Two finalists will then go head-to-head during an intermission of Florida’s game against Montreal on March 17, and the winner gets a contract.

Nigel Hayes had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Badgers (27-3, 15-2), who had at least a tie for first place already wrapped up last weekend. This is their fourth title under coach Bo Ryan and the first in seven years.

The Badgers made seven of their first 10 attempts from 3-point range and finished with 18 assists against just nine turnovers.

Nate Mason had 15 points and Carlos Morris added 11 points for the Gophers (17-13, 6-11), who fell behind by 20 points in the first half and couldn’t fully recover.

NO. 18 ARKANSAS 78,

SOUTH CAROLINA 74

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Michael Portis scored 24 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lead No. 18 Arkansas to a victory over South Carolina.

The Razorbacks (24-6, 13-4 Southeastern Conference) trailed by 11 points with seven minutes left in a wild game during which they led by 20 in the first half

With the win, Arkansas clinched second place in the SEC and will be on the opposite side of the league tournament bracket from No. 1 and undefeated Kentucky.

South Carolina (14-15, 5-12) managed only one point after leading scorer Tyrone Johnson left the game with cramps with 2:29 left. Johnson finished with 18 points.

The Gamecocks can finish no better than 11th in the SEC and will have to play on the opening day of the five-day conference tournament.

SURPRISE, Ariz. — Jeremy Guthrie strode to the table with va television camera trained on him, settling down behind a pair of microphones. His voice clear and his words concise, Guthrie announced in a mock news conference that he was hanging up his cleats.

The Kansas City Royals pitcher was retiring. In his prime.

From the business of shoe collecting.

To which his buddy, filmmaker David T. Friendly, replied: “My foot!”

“I believe that about as much as I believe my degenerate friends who say they’re never going to gamble again after a bad loss,” Friendly said. “He’ll be back.”

This was no minor announcement.

In the world of sneakerheads, a subculture of folks whose pursuit of the latest kicks sometimes borders on the obsessive, Guthrie is something just short of a deity. He’s been accumulating shoes since he was a kid, when he got his first pair of Air Jordans, and his vast collection held in a vault in his Utah home has grown to roughly 500 pairs.

There’s at least one of every edition of Air Jordan. There are special editions and one-offs, variations of colors, styles and designs. Some were signed by other athletes or worn in games.

While the value of anything is what someone is willing to pay for it, Guthrie estimates that his most expensive pair is worth about $40,000. His entire collection? About $500,000.

And make no mistake: There are plenty of people willing to pay for it.

“You’d be amazed at how many sneakerheads there are,” said Friendly, the Academy Award-nominated producer of “Little Miss Sunshine,” who had been thinking of making a documentary film a few years ago when he stumbled on the sneaker movement.

Friendly started to poke around this underground world, meeting people who regularly drop thousands on a pair of shoes. Eventually, someone told Friendly to get in touch with Guthrie, who gave him unfettered access to his knowledge and collection.

The result was “Sneakerheadz,” a film exploring the subculture that will premier March 16 at South by Southwest, the iconic music, film and arts festival in Austin, Texas.

“There’s been a sneaker culture since hip-hop music became more mainstream,” said Guthrie, who wound up investing in the film and is credited as a co-executive producer.

“I grew up in a smaller town in Oregon, close to Nike, and I was always going to Foot Locker and buying shoes,” he explained. “But once I left that pocket, and I saw a lot of other guys that loved Jordans — they had 10 or 20 pairs — I said, ‘Oh, OK. That’s pretty cool.’”

True collectors

It was a revelatory moment. Guthrie had learned that, just like folks who collect baseball cards or stamps, there were other people who collected shoes.

He found those people at BYU and Stanford, where he went to school. At every stop up the minor league ladder. Guthrie even found them in the big leagues, other ballplayers who would wait anxiously for the release of a rare pair, or stand in line for a limited edition.

Guys like David Riske, a journeyman reliever whom Guthrie met at Double-A Akron. Or Eric Crozier, a first baseman he met at Triple-A Buffalo who played all of 14 games in the big leagues.

Guthrie also formed kinships with collectors outside of the sports world, which became easier once social media exploded. He learned that he was a mere novice next to guys like Jordy Geller, whose “ShoeZeum” bills itself as the largest sneaker collection in the world, or a dude known as Kenny G — “The Perfect Pair” on Instagram — who has a world-class collection of his own.

“Of course, there are people who don’t understand it,” said Scott Keeney, better known by his stage name DJ Skee, a TV host, producer and entrepreneur who narrated “Sneakerheadz.”

“It’s like collecting fine art,” Keeney said. “These are fine, very limited pieces of art in a weird way where, you know, there’s supply and demand. That’s why some of these shoes can be worth tens of thousands of dollars.”

No wonder Guthrie’s rarest shoes are safely housed in his customized vault. This is serious business, not something he does for kicks and giggles.

“Jeremy is great, and now that he’s retired, it’s interesting,” Keeney said. “I mean, he put cleats on a pair of basketball shoes — that’s never been done. Some of the limited-edition Jordans that he shows off in the video are holy grails in the community.”

In other words, Guthrie’s retirement leaves a significant void in the subculture. It’s one less devotee who takes his collection beyond a simple hobby.

“I’ve always said and always stressed to people who know me and followed me on Instagram, when I lose that sense of motivation, that sense of needing something to prove, as a sneakerhead, it’s time to move away,” Guthrie said. “I’ve reached the pinnacle of my career.”

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Michael Bourn got back in the starting blocks this winter. A track sprinter in high school, Cleveland’s speedy outfielder had some hurdles to clear.

At the Indians’ urging, the fleet-footed Bourn spent three months working with former Olympic champion Leroy Burrell. The former world record-holder at 100 meters, Burrell helped Bourn refine his running skills, which haven’t produced as many steals or runs as Cleveland hoped the past two seasons.

Bourn ran the 100, 200, 400 and relays before hanging up his running spikes after ninth grade to focus on baseball. He wasn’t too familiar with Burrell, a gold medalist at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

So, can Burrell still run?

“No,” Bourn quipped, smiling. “Those days are over with. He used to run. He could go. He told me I underestimated him. I asked him if he could beat Bo Jackson running and he said, ‘Yes.’ Well, that’s what he told me.”

Slowed by hamstring injuries, Bourn hasn’t been the speed threat the Indians envisioned they were getting when they signed him to a four-year, $48 million contract before the 2013 season. Bourn led the NL in steals four times and swiped 42 bags as recently as 2012 with Atlanta.

But in two years with Cleveland, Bourn has just 33 steals and has been caught 18 times. He twice went on the disabled list last season — he missed 56 games — with hamstring issues, which he thought were fixed after the 32-year-old underwent offseason surgery in October 2013.

After his winter on the track in Houston with Burrell, Bourn said his legs are as healthy as they’ve been in several years.

“They feel good,” he said. “They feel really good. I feel in shape and I feel ready to go.”

Bourn has been revitalized by his offseason regimen, which helped him tone a sculpted body that didn’t need much of a major overhaul.

The Indians, who are counting on their leadoff hitter to set the tone and table for their lineup, are thrilled by Bourn’s dedication.

“I think it’s pretty awesome what he did this winter,” manager Terry Francona said. “I don’t know too many nine-year veterans who would commit themselves to a track coach. I thought that was pretty neat.”

Despite subpar seasons from Bourn, former All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis and slugger Nick Swisher, the Indians won 85 games last season and were in the thick of the AL playoff race until fading in the final week. Cleveland appears to have the necessary pitching to contend again, but the club needs some of its regulars to bounce back.

It all starts with Bourn.

He began last season on the DL after re-injuring his surgically repaired hamstring in an exhibition game. Bourn missed the first 13 games, and was finding his groove when he got hurt again and sat out 34 games from July 6 to Aug. 14 with a strained left hamstring. Bourn gave the Indians a boost down the stretch, and wound up tying for the AL lead with 10 triples. But if he hadn’t been hurt, Bourn could have changed the outcome of a few games, wins the Indians needed in the end.

Although his 290 steals since 2008 lead the majors, Bourn attempted just 16 steals — he was thrown out six times — in 2014. His legs failed him, prompting the Indians to approach him about trying something new and they pointed him toward Burrell, Houston’s track coach.

“I said, ‘Yeah, I’m cool with that,’” Bourn said. “We worked on more form running than anything — just try to keep your legs under you and running the way a real runner knows how to run more than I do. I’m fast, but they know how to run correctly. There’s a little difference to it. So I practiced it over and over, so hopefully when the game gets started it just takes over.”

Bourn never enters a season targeting a specific number of steals, “I just let it come as it comes.” Francona, too, thinks it would be foolish to project Bourn’s stats.

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Jessica Jackson had 25 points and eight rebounds to lead ninth-seeded Arkansas over No. 8 seed Mississippi in the second round of the SEC tournament.

Jackson was 3 of 7 from 3-point range and scored five of her points as the Razorbacks (17-12) pulled away with 11 straight to lead 53-39 with 8:44 left.

ACC

NO. 15 NORTH CAROLINA 84, GEORGIA TECH 64

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Stephanie Mavunga scored 23 points, matched her career-high with 16 rebounds and blocked a career-high eight shots to lead No. 15 North Carolina, the sixth seed, to a win over 11th-seeded Georgia Tech in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

The Tar Heels (24-7) play third-seeded and 10th-ranked Louisville in the quarterfinals today.

Allisha Gray scored all 14 of her points in the second half, reaching double figures for the 29th time in 31 games, and Latifah Coleman added 10 points for North Carolina.

Zaire O’Neil and Kaela Davis had 14 points, Aaliyah Whiteside added 13 and Roddreka Rogers 10 for Georgia Tech (18-14). Rogers had 11 rebounds and O’Neil 10 as the Yellow Jackets had a 46-40 rebounding advantage but shot 35 percent and had 18 turnovers. They went outscored by 10 at the foul line, going 5 of 11.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Vanessa Panousis scored 20 points, setting a school record for 3-pointers in the process, and made four free throws in the final 36 seconds and 15th-seeded Virginia Tech pulled off another upset in the ACC tournament with a win over seventh-seeded Pittsburgh.

Panousis hit four 3-pointers to give her 132, moving her to the top of the career list in two just two seasons for the Hokies (12-19), who knocked off 10th-seeded North Carolina State on Wednesday.

Virginia Tech, which led 19-17 at the half when Taijah Campbell scored just before the buzzer, quickly pushed the lead to nine when Panousis hit back-to-back 3s before two minutes passed in the second half.

WAKE FOREST 85,

NO. 22 SYRACUSE 79

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Dearica Hamby had 23 points and 10 rebounds and 13th-seeded Wake Forest upset fifth-seeded Syracuse in the second round of the ACC tournament.

Wake Forest (13-19) entered the tournament with just two conference wins. The Demon Deacons will play fourth-seeded Duke in the quarterfinals today.

Miami (19-11) held Virginia to its second-lowest scoring output of the season to advance to quarterfinals, facing top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Notre Dame today. Miami gave the Irish (28-2) their only conference loss 78-63 on Jan. 8.

Jassany Williams led Miami’s defensive effort with five blocks and eight rebounds to go with her eight points.

Miami scored 10 straight points midway through the second half to take the lead for good at 49-40. Michelle Woods’ 3-pointer with 1:53 left put the game out of reach at 59-48.

Lauren Moses had 13 points, and Breyana Mason and Mikayla Venson scored 11 apiece for Virginia (17-13). The Cavaliers opened the second half on a 6-0 run and had their last lead at 40-39.

LAKELAND Fla. — Julio Teheran allowed one run in a two-inning spring debut, leading the Atlanta Braves to a 6-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.

Teheran is expected to be the Braves’ opening-day starter. He allowed three hits and walked one. The ace of a Braves staff that has been rocked by injuries the past two years, Teheran went 14-13 with a 2.89 ERA.

“Being the opening-day starter is a real honor, especially with the Braves,” Teheran said. “It’s early and I don’t have everything going yet, but starting on opening day is a great honor.”

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez also said it was too early to speculate, and he isn’t quite ready to pick his opening-day starter, five weeks before the games start to count for real.

“Julio did exactly what I wanted him to do today,” Gonzalez said. “For now all we need is for him to throw strikes and that’s mostly what he did.”

Joey Terdoslavich had a double and scored two runs for the Braves.

Alfredo Simon made his Tigers debut and didn’t allow a run while striking out one in two innings. He came over to the Tigers in an offseason trade with the Cincinnati Reds, where he went 15-10 with a 3.44 ERA last season.

J.D. Martinez went 3 for 3 with an RBI for the Tigers.

Starting time

Braves: Gonzalez said he liked what he saw from Teheran in his first outing of the spring. “He gives us a chance to win every time he’s on the mound,” Gonzalez said.

Tigers: Simon will take one of the vacancies left by Max Scherzer, who left for Washington as a free agent, and Rick Porcello who was traded. Simon said he likes being with the Tigers and was simply working on timing his first time out with the Tigers.

Braves: LHP Mike Minor is experiencing shoulder discomfort and is out indefinitely. Gonzalez said he wouldn’t have the latest update on Minor until Monday.

Tigers: Jose Iglesias, who missed all of 2014 with stress fractures in both legs, sat out against the Braves. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said he just wants Iglesias to take it slow. ... Yoenis Cespedes sat out after being penciled into the starting lineup. Ausmus said it was for lower back tightness. . Ausmus said there is no timetable for the return of Miguel Cabrera to the lineup. Ausmus couldn’t guarantee that Cabrera would be ready for opening day after undergoing offseason ankle surgery. ... Potential closer Bruce Rondon will face batters on Friday. He missed last season with a torn ligament in his left elbow.

Up next

Braves: Alex Wood will start for the Braves in Kissimmee against Jordan Zimmermann of the Washington Nationals.

Tigers: David Price will make his spring debut in Port St. Lucie against Matt Harvey and the New York Mets.

ATLANTA — Dominique Wilkins said his statue unveiled by the Atlanta Hawks means “we have history here now.”

The granite sculpture unveiled on Thursday, which stands 13½ feet tall and weighs 18,500 pounds, captures Wilkins taking off for a dunk, holding the ball in his right hand.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called Wilkins “one of the most entertaining players” in NBA history.

“This statue stands for so much more than just your accomplishments on the court,” Silver said. “It’s a symbol of the fabric of the community that you’ve become and all that you’ve accomplished on and off the court.”

Wilkins played for the Hawks in his first 12 NBA seasons. He also played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Boston, San Antonio and Orlando in his final four seasons but said his heart never left Atlanta.

“Nobody loves this organization more than I love it,” Wilkins said. “I bleed and breathe Hawks. Even when I played for other teams I felt funny, because I was a Hawk.”

The art was created by Brian Hanlon, the official sculptor of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Current and former Hawks players, and former Atlanta coach Mike Fratello, attended the private ceremony at Philips Arena. Wilkins applauded the work of coach Mike Budenholzer for directing the Hawks to the NBA’s best record.

Also attending were such NBA legends as Julius Erving, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley and Clyde Drexler and Wilkins brother, Gerald Wilkins, also a former NBA player.

“With this statue, Dominique takes his rightful place as a legend of the game,” Drexler said.

There were also video tributes, including one from Larry Bird, who took a playful jab at Wilkins by saying “Congratulations on that statue. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t made with you in a defensive stance.”

Erving said as he neared the end of his career he looked at such players as Wilkins as proof of the NBA’s growth.

“I started to think is the game in better shape than it was before I got here and did I have anything to do with that, and the answer was yes,” Erving said. “I felt very proud that the game was in good shape and it was in the hands of guys like Dominique Wilkins.”

Wilkins spoke of the struggles of his mother, Gertrude, who raised eight children.

“I’m just so happy she’s still here to see this moment,” he said.

Wilkins’ coach at the University of Georgia, Hugh Durham, also attended the ceremony.

The statue will be moved to its permanent home outside the arena before tonight’s game against Cleveland.

“The statue stands for change in this city and this franchise,” Wilkins said. “It stands for history.”

Wilkins, a nine-time All-Star whose nickname was “Human Highlight Film,” was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. He is a vice president of the team and an analyst on Hawks TV broadcasts.

“Dominique Wilkins has meant so much to us,” said Hawks chief executive officer and co-owner Steve Koonin. “The celebration with the gift of the statue is our gift back to you.”

Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed announced a portion of a street near the arena would be renamed Dominique Wilkins Lane.

Wilkins’ No. 21 has been retired by the Hawks. The only other Hawks players to have their numbers retired are Bob Pettit (9) and Lou Hudson (23).

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Hawks are blowing away everyone in the Eastern Conference.

Yet, there’s always a sense that LeBron James will be standing in the way when they get to the playoffs.

That scenario adds an extra bit of intrigue to tonight’s matchup in Atlanta between the Hawks and James’ Cleveland Cavaliers.

The front-running Hawks insist they’re not treating this game any different. Of course, that’s what you would expect from the team with a double-digit lead in the East, which has all but locked up home-court advantage throughout the conference playoffs with more than a month to go in the regular season.

“We want to be better later in the season than we are now,” forward DeMarre Carroll said Thursday, shortly after the Hawks wrapped up an hour-long practice. “This is more about the Hawks than any sort of message game.”

The Cavaliers see it a bit different. Even though they are 10 1/2 games behind the Hawks, dueling with Chicago and Toronto for the second seed, they haven’t backed off their expectations of competing for a championship.

“Obviously, we have some great teams in the league that are ahead of us,” guard Kyrie Irving said. “We’re trying to use that as a barometer and test for us when we come out to play, especially on the road. These games mean a lot. Seeding is a big thing. We just want to take care of business.”

The Hawks are the NBA’s most surprising team, a long-overlooked franchise that went unbeaten in January (during a 19-game winning streak) and had four players — Paul Millsap, Jeff Teague, Al Horford and Kyle Korver — in the All-Star Game.

After a 7-6 start, they have won 41 of their last 48 games, their latest run of five in a row extended Tuesday when they rallied from an 18-ooint deficit to beat Houston. Atlanta has the league’s best record (48-12), a half-game ahead of Golden State, and merely needs to win 12 of its last 22 games to ensure home court in the East.

The Cavaliers (39-24) haven’t been the powerhouse everyone expected after luring James back to Cleveland and trading for Kevin Love, pairing those two with Irving to create their own version of the Big Three.

Even though Cleveland seems to be coming together, winning eight of its last 11, James said it’s too soon to make comparisons to the conference’s newest powerhouse.

“It shouldn’t be about the team we’re playing,” James said after the Cavs held off the Toronto Raptors 120-112 on Wednesday. “It’s about our process. Obviously, Atlanta has been playing great basketball all year. We can’t try to go in there and see where we are with them.

“They’ve been playing the most consistent, along with Golden State, all year. So we’ll see where we are. If we keep getting better, we keep playing defense like we’ve been playing the last couple of months, we’ll give ourselves a great chance.”

Roster moves

While the Hawks have maintained essentially the same roster all year, the Cavaliers have made some major changes since the first three meetings between the teams, all before New Year’s Day.

Cleveland acquired J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert from the New York Knicks to provide additional scoring, and bulked up on the inside by picking up 7-foot-1 Timofey Mozgov from Denver and signing 6-10 Kendrick Perkins.

“They’re going to test us, they’re going to challenge us,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “That’s what you want. You want to be tested and you want to be challenged in a big way. I think our guys, and all of us, look forward to that test and that challenge. But it’s not really sending really any messages or anything like that, where we stand or where anybody stands.”

The Cavaliers handed Atlanta its worst loss of the season back on Nov. 15, 127-94, but the Hawks bounced back just a month later to dole out Cleveland’s most lopsided defeat, 127-98 — the game that signaled this team had a chance to be something special.

Atlanta won again on Dec. 30 in a much more competitive matchup, 109-101.

For their final meeting of the regular season, the Hawks are at home and well rested after two days off. The Cavaliers were off Thursday, their only break in a stretch of four games in five days.

So, while this may not exactly be a fair fight, it should be a more accurate gauge of where both teams are with the playoffs approaching.

“It’s going to be a good challenge,” Teague said. “As long as we’re playing well at the end of the season and going into the playoffs, as long as we’re playing at a high level on both ends, that’s all that really matters to me.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Defensive tackle Darnell Dockett notes on his Twitter page header that he will be “2016 comeback player of the year.”

It looks like he will get that chance. Dockett signed a two-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday that will keep him in the NFC West after playing all of his 10 NFL seasons with Arizona.

Agent Drew Rosenhaus confirmed the contract Thursday morning for the three-time Pro Bowler then the 49ers announced later in the day that Dockett had reached a deal.

Rosenhaus also posted a photo of him standing with Dockett on Twitter that read, “Congrats to the newest Niner!” with signing papers on the table.

The 33-year-old Dockett sat out all of 2014 with a knee injury suffered during training camp. He started every game for the Cardinals in 2013, finishing with 46 tackles and 4½ sacks. Now, he will play for promoted defensive line coach Jim Tomsula, named 49ers head coach in January.

On Sunday, the animated Dockett posted on Twitter, “Whatever team Im on, we will WIN!!!!....... That’s all I know. That’s all I think about. ‘I love you all.’”

Dockett, who once said of the 49ers “I hate that team,” said in a Phoenix radio interview Thursday that San Francisco showed he was wanted.

“They made an effort and they showed me much love man,” he said on Fox Sports 910, “and I’m excited by that challenge.”

He visited with the 49ers earlier this week, choosing a new start after being released last Friday when negotiations didn’t work out on a restructured deal with Arizona because of salary cap concerns.

Dockett said in the radio interview that he would have taken less money to stay with the Cardinals, but the difference between the two offers was far too much.

“I knew then that it was my time to go,” he said.

Dockett was one of Arizona’s longest-tenured players along with Larry Fitzgerald.

He was taken off the field on a cart in August with the right knee injury that required surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He was hurt during an 11-on-11 drill.

With Justin Smith pondering retirement — or apparently at least still deciding whether to return for a 15th season — Dockett could fill a big need with another veteran presence on the defensive line. The 49ers finished 8-8 and out of the playoffs for the first time in four years, dealing with injuries to several key defensive stars. San Francisco had reached the three previous NFC championship games and lost in the Super Bowl following the 2012 season.

Simpson signs

San Francisco also signed wide receiver Jerome Simpson to a two-year deal Thursday. Simpson was released by the Vikings last September following further off-field troubles involving drugs and alcohol that earned him a three-game NFL suspension for violations of the league’s substance-abuse policy.

The 49ers have employed several players with legal problems in recent seasons, prompting CEO Jed York to say after 2014 ended that the team needed to be better. San Francisco had 10 arrests involving six different players since January 2012, most in the NFL.

“Our mission is very simple: the San Francisco 49ers win with class. We haven’t won, and I don’t think we’ve conducted ourselves with the level of class that I expect of our organization,” he said. “We’ve had off-the-field issues. That’s going to happen in sports. The level that it’s happened here is not unacceptable.”

The 29-year-old Simpson should add depth in a receiving corps that could lose Michael Crabtree in free agency. A second-round pick by the Bengals in 2008, Simpson played his first four seasons in Cincinnati before joining Minnesota.

His 726 yards receiving were a career high in 2013, which came on 48 receptions with one touchdown catch.

DORAL, Fla. — J.B. Holmes never liked the old Blue Monster at Doral because he thought it was too easy for a World Golf Championship.

He said this with a straight face Thursday after a 10-under 62 that tied the tournament record at the Cadillac Championship, gave him a four-shot lead and left the rest of this world-class field to wonder just how he managed.

“I was able to hit the shots where I envisioned and hit good shots, and today the putter was on,” Holmes said. “Put that combination together, you do everything pretty good, you’re going to shoot a good score.”

He made it sound as easy as it looked. Except that Trump National Doral wasn’t all that easy for everyone else.

Rory McIlroy again felt tentative with his swing and shot 40 on his opening nine holes before finishing without a par on his last six holes — an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys that allowed him to salvage a 73. The world’s No. 1 player has shot 73-74-73 in his three rounds in Florida this year.

Phil Mickelson shot 74 and failed to make a birdie for the first time in 186 rounds on the PGA Tour, dating to the final day at Olympic Club in the 2012 U.S. Open.

“Ten under? You’re joking,” Shane Lowry said after a hard-fought 71.

Ryan Moore was hanging with him until he hit his tee shot into the water on the par-5 18th hole and made double bogey. He still had a 66.

“It was a very fair test of golf,” Moore said. “I mean, it’s difficult, but you can make some birdies.”

Dustin Johnson ran off four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the back nine and was at 68, along with Alexander Levy of France and Rickie Fowler, who thought his round was solid.

“To shoot 68 in some tough conditions on a tough golf course and be six back, wouldn’t really expect that,” Fowler said.

Henrik Stenson, making his American debut, had six birdies and joined Phoenix Open winner Brooks Koepka at 69. The group at 68 included Adam Scott, who used a conventional putter for the first time in just over four years.

Holmes last played at Doral in 2010, missing time with injuries, not the least of which was surgery to remove a piece of his skull in 2011. Gil Hanse renovated the Blue Monster to make it more sensational with so much water hugging the fairways and greens. That was never an issue for Holmes. He finished his round with an 8-foot par putt, which he said was the closest he came to bogey all day.

“By about 5 feet,” he said.

The start was nothing short of deal. Holmes two-putted for birdie on the par-5 10th, holed a 35-foot birdie putt on the 11th, and then smashed a drive downwind on the 603-yard 12th hole. He hit 6-iron thinking he might be able to clear the bunker, and it turned out better than he imagined, a foot away from the hole for an eagle.

The rest of the round, playing in tropical warmth and typical south Florida wind, was a matter of keeping it below the hole and making putts.

This was never his favorite WGC event the two previous times he played it.

“One of my least favorite tracks on tour,” he said of the previous design. “It was just too easy. I felt like for a World Golf Championship, 22 under winning shouldn’t really happen. It’s a very difficult golf course. I played great today.”

He was right on both counts.

The average score was 73.4, meaning that Holmes was more than 11 shots better than the field, the best standard of a great round. His 62 matched the tournament record set by Bubba Watson at Doral in 2012, and Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen at Mount Juliet in Ireland in 2002.

McIlroy’s standard is slightly off at the moment.

Already a winner in Dubai and a runner-up in Abu Dhabi, he missed the cut last week at the Honda Classic after a month break and said he felt tentative. A week later, not much changed. Poor tee shots kept him from reaching the par 5s on the back nine in two. He twice failed to save par from the bunkers. And then from the middle of the fairway on the 18th hole — the tee shot is supposed to be the hard part — he was caught between clubs and tugged a 7-iron short, down the bank and into the water for a double bogey.

On his next tee shot, McIlroy was 5 yards away from going into the water — on the adjacent Red Course.

“It is very good on the range and it is very good in normal play when I’m not playing a tournament,” McIlroy said. “Then I’ve got a card in my hand the last couple weeks and it just hasn’t quite been there. It’s nice you can get round rounds this week and sort of try to play your way into some sort of rhythm. I don’t feel like it’s that far away. That’s the frustrating thing.”

But he’s far away from the lead. McIlroy already was 11 shots behind.

Puerto Rico Open

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico — PGA Tour rookie Mark Hubbard closed with a birdie in windy conditions for a one-stroke lead in the Puerto Rico Open.

Hubbard opened with a 4-under 68 at Trump International Golf Club-Puerto Rico. He birdied Nos. 4, 5 and 6, dropped a stroke on the par-3 eighth and finished with a birdie on the par-4 ninth.

Hubbard made news last month when he proposed to Meaghan McCurley on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach during the first round in the AT&T Pebble National Pro-Am.

Chris Smith, Billy Mayfair and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo were tied for second. David Duval, Jonathan Byrd and Alex Cejka were in the group at 70.

LPGA Tour

SINGAPORE — South Korea’s Inbee Park and Taiwan’s Yani Tseng each shot 6-under 66 to top the leaderboard after the first round of the LPGA Tour’s HSBC Women’s Champions.

The second-ranked Park birdied the par-5 18th on Sentosa’s Serapong Course to tie Tseng. Coming off a tie for second last week in the LPGA Thailand, Tseng won the last of her 15 tour titles in 2012.

American Angela Stanford, the 2012 winner, was a stroke back.

Top-ranked Lydia Ko was at 68 along with Karrie Webb, Jenny Shin, Mo Martin and Mariajo Uribe. The 17-year-old Ko is coming off victories in the Women’s Australian Open and New Zealand Women’s Open.

Lexi Thompson had a hole-in-one on the par-3 14th in her 69.

Michelle Wie had a 73.

Defending champion Paula Creamer opened with a 74. Last year, Creamer won with a 75-foot eagle putt on the second hole of a playoff with Azahara Munoz.

In college football, spring comes early. Or at least spring practice comes early.

Practice has already started for many teams around the country and will ramp up just about everywhere else throughout March.

Spring story lines tend to revolve around quarterbacks, coaches and coordinators. Most quarterback competitions won’t get settled until August. New coaches and coordinators will install their systems, but how much progress are they actually making? Who knows?

The intrasquad games and scrimmages that wrap up spring practice will give fans a glimpse of what they have to look forward to (or brace for) come September.

So while acknowledging that spring football often provides few definitive answers, a look at some of the most interesting story lines from around the nation.

QB competitions

You might have heard that national champion Ohio State has a lot of good quarterbacks. Well, most of them aren’t going to be fully healthy for spring ball. Two-time Big Ten player of the year Braxton Miller is still recovering from shoulder surgery. Last year’s All-Big Ten quarterback, J.T. Barrett, is still on the mend from a broken ankle. So Cardale Jones, who led the Buckeyes to the Big Ten and national championships in three starts, should get a lot of snaps. The bigger question for the Buckeyes will be who sticks around after spring. Miller has graduated and can transfer without restrictions.

Other intriguing quarterbacks battles:

• Notre Dame: Mistake-prone Everett Golson will try to win the starting job back from Malik Zaire. And if Golson doesn’t, will he take the graduate transfer route?

• Florida State: There is no clear replacement for Jameis Winston. Last season’s backup, Sean Maguire, is the only quarterback on the roster with any experience.

• LSU: Highly touted Brandon Harris will get another shot to take the starting job away from uninspiring incumbent Anthony Jennings. Tigers fans might want to keep an eye on how things play out with Golson and Miller.

• Oklahoma: That Sugar Bowl victory against Alabama seems like a long time ago for Trevor Knight, who followed up his breakout postseason performance with a mediocre 2014. Texas Tech transfer Baker Mayfield will provide competition, along with redshirt freshman Cody Thomas.

New coaches

Michigan’s first spring under Jim Harbaugh started in February. What should expectations be for the Wolverines? Well, when Harbaugh comes to town the team tends to get better quickly and the Wolverines, despite missing the postseason last season, do have some talent. Two things to watch: A) Can Harbaugh tap into whatever it was that made quarterback Shane Morris a highly touted recruit? B) How large will the crowd be at the Big House on April 4 for the spring game? The faithful in Ann Arbor, Mich., have not been this excited for a season since before the failed Rich Rodriguez experiment.

There hasn’t been quite the same buzz coming out of Gainesville, Fla., where Jim McElwain is putting his stamp on the Gators. The inability to put a productive offense on the field cost Will Muschamp his job at Florida. The spring game will give Gators fans a taste of what McElwain has up his sleeve and which quarterback — sophomore Treon Harris or freshman Will Grier — is the front-runner to run the show.

In Nebraska, Huskers fans seem to be embracing Mike Riley, who brings an experienced coaching staff and refreshingly friendly personality to Lincoln. Two major stars need to be replaced. Running back Imani Cross gets first crack at the tailback job vacated by Ameer Abdullah’s departure. Defensive end Randy Gregory will be even more difficult to replace. Maybe redshirt freshman Stoltenberg can help fill the void.

• Oregon State: Gary Andersen bailed from Wisconsin after just two seasons to replace Riley and give the Beavers a new look for the first time in a long time.

• American Athletic Conference West Division: The AAC West could be supercharged with three former offensive coordinators stepping into their first head coaching jobs: Chad Morris (formerly of Clemson) at SMU, Tom Herman (formerly of Ohio State) at Houston and Philip Montgomery (formerly of Baylor) at Tulsa.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — If the Denver Broncos’ 2015 season goes the way he hopes, Peyton Manning will earn back every penny of the $4 million pay cut he took Thursday.

No. 18 made his return for an 18th NFL season official by passing his physical a day after agreeing to a revised contract that calls for him to make $15 million this season.

The new deal he signed after getting a clean bill of health includes incentives of $2 million each for winning the AFC title and the Super Bowl.

“Well, we’re excited it’s over and glad we can move on and glad Peyton’s going to be a part of this team and hopefully win a championship next year,” general manager John Elway told the team’s website. “I think this time of the offseason is always tough for everybody. And it’s a tough part of the business but it’s the time of year that we’ve got to put the best football team together that we possibly can.”

Manning, who left the team’s headquarters Thursday without speaking to the media, was non-committal about returning after the Broncos’ playoff loss to the Indianapolis Colts. But he determined he still had the health and hunger to keep playing at age 39 for new coach Gary Kubiak.

Elway asked Manning to take a pay cut and it took nearly a month to hash out the new deal reached Wednesday that was contingent on Manning passing his annual physical. Every year, the Broncos medical staff checks on Manning’s surgically repaired neck to make sure there’s not any degeneration in the discs above and below the ones that were fused in 2011.

Manning, whose contract still calls for him to make $19 million in 2016 should he decide to play into his 40s, will return to Denver for the start of offseason workouts on April 13.

Manning had a terrific first half of last season but his play slipped dramatically over the second half, when he was hampered by a nagging thigh injury that affected his accuracy.

Pro Bowl running back C.J. Anderson said he expects to see more of the QB who appeared headed for a sixth MVP honor than the one who struggled down the stretch.

“If he said he’s mentally and physically ready to play that doesn’t mean it’s at a sub-par level. It means it’s at a high level,” Anderson said.

Cap space

The $4 million savings won’t drastically change Denver’s free agency plans. It gives Elway about $18.6 million to work with, but much of that will go to his own restricted free agents and a large draft class.

It does, however, help the Broncos as they pay out $4 million in bonuses and put another $36.5 million into escrow over the next week because of guarantees in the contracts of Manning, Ryan Clady, Aqib Talib, DeMarcus Ware and T.J. Ward.

Kubiak said he “had a good visit” with Manning on Thursday and “I know he’s as excited as anyone” to get started on the hybrid offense the coaches have been constructing for a month.

“We have a big challenge ahead of us, meshing a couple of systems. That’s something we needed to get a head-start on and we’ve done that,” Kubiak said.

Kubiak has designed mainly West Coast offenses throughout his career that often require the quarterback to line up under center and roll out. Mobility has never been Manning’s calling card; he’s been most comfortable making quick throws out of the shotgun in recent years.

Elway said Kubiak’s offense reminds him of the system he ran during the final, Super Bowl-winning years of his career, when Kubiak was his offensive coordinator.

“Peyton can fit into this offense very easily,” Elway said. “It’s very dependent on balance. Peyton won’t have to throw the ball 50 or 55 times. That gets more helpful, the older you get.”

Manning is all in. Recently, he remarked, “Aside maybe from Tubby Raymond’s Delaware Blue Hen Wing-T offense, I feel pretty comfortable playing in any offense.”

Manning is 179-77 in the regular season but just 11-13 in the postseason. His nine one-and-out playoff performances are about the only blot on a career that features an unprecedented five MVP honors but half as many rings as brother Eli and three fewer than Tom Brady, this generation’s other premiere passer.

Manning owns most of the significant QB records and is 2,148 yards shy of breaking Brett Favre’s career yardage record of 71,838. He’s also nine victories short of breaking Favre’s record of 186 career wins.

Notes

The Broncos signed long snapper Aaron Brewer to a four-year deal Thursday. Brewer is the first of Denver’s five restricted free agents to get a new deal.

Defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said Thursday he will not be back with New England next season, ending an 11-year stay in which he won two Super Bowls and established himself as the cornerstone of the Patriots’ defense.

In a statement on Twitter, Wilfork said the team told him it would not be picking up his option for 2015, making him eligible for free agency.

“I’m in a good place,” Wilfork said. “I will take my time think things through take into consideration many things but mainly my family and see where life goes from there. ... But regardless remember I will always remain a New Englander a Patriot forever.”

A 6-foot-2, 325-pound gap-stuffer who was drafted in the first round out of Miami in 2004, Wilfork helped the Patriots win the Super Bowl as a rookie and returned to the NFL title game twice more in losing efforts before helping the franchise win its fourth championship last month.

But he was due to receive a $4 million roster bonus by Monday and would have gotten $14 million over the next two seasons if it had been picked up. The money saved will help the Patriots bring back cornerback Darrelle Revis.

The Patriots did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wilfork, 33, missed 14 games in 2013 with a torn Achilles tendon. But he returned to play in every game this season, including three in the postseason, registering 28 tackles and his third career interception.

“Can I still play football? Hell yea! do I still love football? Hell yea! One thing for sure is I will always be a fixture in New England forever. ... This will always be my home,” he wrote on Twitter. “One major injury lots of gas still left in the tank.”

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Two of the Oakland Raiders’ big free-agent acquisitions from last season are no longer with the team.

Running back Maurice Jones-Drew announced his retirement Thursday and defensive end LaMarr Woodley was released by the team.

The two were brought in last March as general manager Reggie McKenzie targeted veterans to help rebuild the struggling organization. But many of those players failed to reach the Pro Bowl levels from their past and the Raiders won just three games last season.

Jones-Drew and Woodley were two of the biggest symbols of that failed strategy.

Jones-Drew was paid $2.5 million last season but only rushed for 96 yards on 43 carries in 12 games. It was a major disappointment for him and the team as he came into the season healthy and excited about his return to his native Bay Area.

But he was unable to get back to the level he had reached in Jacksonville earlier in his career when he ranked second in the NFL with 4,321 yards rushing in a three-year span from 2009-11.

The 29-year-old Jones-Drew had 1,313 yards in his final three seasons — fewer than he had in each of the previous three years.

“After much discussion with my family and business team during this offseason, I’ve decided to retire from the National Football League,” Jones-Drew said in a statement released on his Twitter account. “The past nine years were absolutely amazing! I’ll be forever grateful to the countless people who have assisted me throughout my NFL journey. To my fans, and NFL fans worldwide, you are the absolute greatest! But for you, our league would not exist. Football has been a central part of my life for the past 24 years. But, now I’m excited about and looking forward to the next chapter of my life.”

Woodley was paid more than $4.8 million last season when he had no sacks in six games before being sidelined by a season-ending biceps injury.

The moves save the Raiders about $7.7 million on this year’s salary cap. Oakland now has more than $60 million in cap space heading into free agency next week, second most in the NFL, according to the Website overthecap.com. The Raiders can create even more room if they cut ties with backup quarterback Matt Schaub.

DOVER, Del. — NASCAR driver Kurt Busch will not face criminal charges over claims by his ex-girlfriend that he smashed her head into a bedroom wall and choked her, Delaware prosecutors said Thursday.

The decision by the state attorney general’s office ends the criminal investigation of Busch, known in NASCAR circles as “The Outlaw,” over allegations by Patricia Driscoll, whom Busch’s attorneys portrayed as a scorned woman who tried to destroy Busch’s career after he ended their relationship.

State prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges.

“After a thorough consideration of all of the available information about the case, it is determined that the admissible evidence and available witnesses would likely be insufficient to meet the burden of establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Busch committed a crime during the September 26th incident,” the attorney general’s office said in a prepared statement.

A spokesman for the Dover Police Department, which investigated the incident and gave its findings to the attorney general’s office, said the department respects the decision and has no further comment.

In a prepared statement, Busch thanked prosecutors for carefully considering the evidence and his supporters for standing by him “throughout this nightmare.”

“As I have said from the beginning, I did not commit domestic abuse,” Busch said. “I look forward to being back in racing as soon as possible and moving on with my life.”

Driscoll said in a prepared statement she was disappointed that “full justice” was not served. Driscoll, who had made the rounds of television shows after being granted a no-contact order, also suggested media coverage of the case was marked by “distortions” and “sensationalism.” She offered no specifics.

‘A media circus’

Mark Dycio, an attorney for Driscoll, suggested the decision not to bring charges may have been based not on law, but on Delaware prosecutors’ desire to avoid “a media circus.”

“(I)t seems impossible that the attorney general’s office made this decision on burden of proof grounds,” Dycio said in a prepared statement. “It would be unfortunate, and a terrible precedent for victims of abuse, if the prospect of inviting a media circus fueled by Mr. Busch’s wealth, notoriety, and hostile PR team in any way swayed this decision.”

The attorney general’s office declined to comment on Dycio’s statement.

NASCAR officials indefinitely suspended Busch last month after a Delaware Family Court commissioner granted Driscoll a “protection from abuse”, or no-contact, order, saying the former champion more than likely choked and beat her inside his motorhome at Dover International Speedway last fall.

Busch lost two rounds of appeals for reinstatement before the season-opening Daytona 500 and has missed the first two races of the season. NASCAR officials said Monday that he has agreed to follow their recommended guidelines to be eligible for eventual reinstatement.

Busch’s eligibility

NASCAR spokesman David Higdon said Thursday that Busch is actively participating in the reinstatement program. He said Busch’s eligibility will be governed by that program, but “the elimination of the possibility of criminal charges certainly removes a significant impediment to his reinstatement.”

Jim Liguori, an attorney for Busch, said prosecutors were right not to bring charges against him.

“She absolutely tried to destroy him in the press ...,” Liguori said of Driscoll. “But the truth wins out, and the truth is its own defense.”

Driscoll said Busch assaulted her in September after she drove from her Maryland home to check on him after receiving a series of disturbing texts. Driscoll said Busch grabbed her by the face and neck and slammed her head against a wall three times. She did not file charges until early November, fearing the incident might affect an ongoing child custody battle with her ex-husband in Maryland.

Driscoll’s request for a no-contact order was the subject of four days of hearings in December and January. During the Family Court hearing, Busch and others testified that Driscoll had made far-fetched claims of being a covert operative for the federal government and a trained assassin.

Despite granting the no-contact order, a Family Court commissioner said Driscoll had presented false testimony that conflicted with that of a chaplain who saw her immediately after the incident and said he saw no marks or bruises on her. The judge nevertheless said he didn’t believe Driscoll’s false testimony amounted to perjury or intentional falsehood.

The judge also concluded that Busch did not appear to be a prototypical batterer who uses violence to subjugate or control, but that the incident was most likely a “situational” event in which Busch could not cope or control his tendency to act out violently in response to stress and frustration, causing him to “snap.”

Busch’s attorneys have asked the Family Court commissioner to re-open the hearing so they can present testimony from three acquaintances of Driscoll who they say were previously reluctant to get involved but are now willing to contradict statements Driscoll has made about her relationship with Busch.

LAS VEGAS — Armed guards patrolling the gym where Manny Pacquiao trains. Stealthy attempts to disrupt Pacquiao’s sparring. And a bit of trash talking just to spice things up two months before the big fight.

Freddie Roach may be in Macau for a title fight involving China’s Zou Shiming, but he’s making plenty of noise before his return to Los Angeles on Sunday to train Pacquiao for his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. The talk is as old school as Roach, who seems to be giving early notice to the Mayweather camp that the buildup to the fight will be as intense as the bout itself.

“Floyd is so disrespectful,” Roach said by phone from China. “Manny is the perfect role model for this fight and Mayweather is not. I told Manny we’ve got to beat him for the whole world. There’s no way we can’t win this fight.”

Forgive Roach if he’s early with the talk, but he’s just warming up. He has to, because he’ll carry the dual role of trainer and chief provocateur for Pacquiao, who tends to shy away from making any inflammatory comments about fighters he’ll meet in the ring.

There’s two more months of this to come. Reality television couldn’t begin to even think of the plot twists that will take place between the Hollywood gym where Pacquiao trains and The Money Team’s digs in Las Vegas.

Leave it to Roach, widely acknowledged as the best trainer in the sport, to offer up a few tantalizing morsels to keep the hype going.

Risk management

He doesn’t much care for Mayweather, and believes that at age 38 he’s slowing down. He thinks Mayweather might even be lured by the magnitude of the fight into doing things that will get him in trouble.

“Floyd’s legs don’t move like they once did,” Roach told The Associated Press. “He’s very clever but the fight is so big he may feel like he has to take a risk and exchange with us. If he does that, that’s the best thing in the world for Manny, in my mind.”

And if the fight comes down to cornermen, Roach believes Mayweather will be in real trouble if he’s listening to his father, Floyd Sr., who took over as his son’s trainer from uncle Roger Mayweather last year.

“Going against Floyd Sr. is a little disappointing,” Roach said. “He just isn’t very good, especially during the fight itself. One of our advantages is having him in the other corner.”

The two fighters will get together next Wednesday for the only time before fight week to promote a bout that really doesn’t need much promoting. Expect Floyd Sr. to come up with a poem predicting his son’s success, and expect Roach to elevate the level of trash talk even more.

Big fights are nothing new to either boxer, but already this one is proving different. The buildup to the actual announcement of the fight created hysteria in boxing circles, and the buzz about the biggest fight in years shows no sign of abating.

To prepare for the frenzy, Roach hired seven guards for his Wild Card gym in Hollywood, where in the past people milled about in the parking lot hoping to get a glimpse of Pacquiao and anyone with even a remote connection to the fighter could usually manage to get inside for workouts.

“With guns,” Roach said, “so people respect them.”

California guy

That’s not the only change in the Pacquiao camp for the fight that will almost surely define his career.

Instead of doing much of his early training in the Philippines, Pacquiao will spend his entire camp in Southern California. He’ll spar less, likely 90 to 95 rounds instead of the usual 150, because Roach wants to keep his legs fresh at age 36.

First, though, he’ll make a music video to go with a new song the erstwhile singer has recorded for his walk into the ring.

“Manny asked if he could do it and I said OK,” Roach said. “I don’t see it as a distraction because his work ethic is so great.”

Roach, who played a big part in getting the fight made by bringing promoter Bob Arum and CBS chairman Les Moonves together for talks, said he and Pacquiao have a higher calling than just winning a fight.

“Manny will be performing a public service for boxing when he beats Floyd,” Roach said.

Local fans of high school basketball have one more day to enjoy their passion this season.

And it’s going to be a day to remember.

The Beach High School girls team (26-5) travels to the Macon Centreplex on Saturday when the Bulldogs will face Laney (28-3) for the Class AAA title with tipoff set for 3 p.m.

And tipping off right after that game ends are the Jenkins boys (28-3), who take on defending champion Morgan County (24-7).

Tickets are $12 and are good for the entire slate of GHSA championship games Saturday. Those who can’t make it to Macon can catch the games on television live as Georgia Public Broadcasting will be airing the games live (WVAN, Channel 9 for local Comcast subscribers, or check local listings).

Beach is looking for the second title in school history, the Bulldogs won it all in 2000 in Class AAAA, the year after coach Olufemi Gordon graduated from her alma mater.

The Bulldogs are led by Region 1-AAA (B) player of the year Jacqueline Anderson, along with all-region first-team picks Ilyn Spann and Dy’Manee Royal.

Laney has made the semifinals in six of the last seven years under coach Otis Smart. The Wildcats were state runner-up in 2013 and 1995 under Smart, but they have never won a state title, according to the Georgia Basketball Project website.

A year after reaching its first Final Four, Jenkins has advanced its first championship game under coach Bakari Bryant, in his fourth year leading the program. Bryant has a state title ring from his playing days at Savannah High. He played for Tim Jordan’s championship squad in 1998.

Jenkins is led by Georgia State signee Malik Benlevi, along with first-team all-region selections Eric Johnson and Trevion Lamar.

Morgan County won its first title last season in its third finals appearance, the last coming in 1990. The Bulldogs’ best player is Mississippi State signee Tookie Brown, who was named the Finals MVP for all classifications last season.

GHSA STATE FINALS SCHEDULE

Friday’s games

Noon — AAASP Wheelchair, Houston vs. Gwinnett

3 p.m. — AA girls, Wesleyan vs. Holy Innocents’

4:45 p.m. — AA boys, Crawford Co. vs. Seminole Co.

7 p.m. — AAAAA girls, Stephenson vs. Mays

8:45 p.m. — AAAAA boys, Brunswick vs. Allatoona

Saturday’s games

11 a.m. — A Private girls, St. Francis vs. SWAC

12:45 p.m. — A Private boys, St. Francis vs. Greenforest

3 p.m. — AAA girls, Laney vs. Beach

4:45 p.m. — AAA boys, Morgan Co. vs. Jenkins

7 p.m. — AAAAAA girls, Norcross vs. McEachern

8:45 p.m. — AAAAAA boys, Pebblebrook vs. Wheeler

Tickets

$12 per day at Macon Coliseum. Parking is $10 per car and $15 for buses and/or stretch vans.

Television

Finals live on WVAN (GPB-TV)

Video

Watch Live at NFHSNetwork.com/GHSA / GPB.org/sports. Order DVDs at NFHSNetwork.com/GHSA.

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg has enlisted NBA stars LeBron James, Stephen Curry and some of the basketball league's other top players to convince more men to join the fight for women's rights at home and at work.

The players will deliver the message in public service announcements aired during NBA games on major TV networks over the next few months.

Sandberg is hoping to persuade men that they will be better off financially and emotionally if they take more responsibility for housework and child care, while also backing equal rights for women at work.

"Gender equality doesn't just benefit women, it benefits men in lots of ways," Sandberg said in an interview with The Associated Press. Among other things, she believes most women are likely to have sex with their husbands or partners more frequently when they get more help at home — a phenomenon she has branded as "choreplay."

The clips featuring the basketball stars are part of a partnership to be announced Thursday between the NBA and LeanIn.org, a nonprofit group Sandberg started two years ago with the publication of a best-selling book advising women on the steps they should take to ensure they get the same opportunities as men traditionally have.

The book, "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead," also urged men to do more to support the women and girls in their lives.

Sandberg, Facebook's second-highest ranking executive behind CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is counting on the NBA's appeal to connect with millions of sports-loving men who haven't read her book.

LeanIn.org is providing men with tips on how to help in brochures that will be available online as part of the campaign with the NBA.

Facebook is among a long list of major Silicon Valley companies with a dearth of women in engineering and other technical positions, where the best-paying jobs are found. Women hold just 15 to 20 percent of the technology jobs at Google, Apple, Facebook and Yahoo, according to company disclosures made during the past nine months.

"Certainly technology has an uphill battle to fight, but no industry has gotten to where it should be," Sandberg said. "The only way anything really changes in society is when we have everyone in society pulling together."

Several technology companies, including Facebook Inc., Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp., are backing a campaign that will be punctuated with (hashtag) LeanInTogether. As part of its participation, Google will be promoting the cause Thursday on the main page of its heavily trafficked search engine.

The National Basketball Association has been running a separate league for women for nearly 20 years. Several WNBA players, including All-Stars Sue Bird and Skylar Diggins, appear in the public service announcement that also features the Golden State Warriors' Curry and the Cleveland Cavaliers' James, the players who got the most votes in the fan balloting for last month's NBA All-Star game.

The union representing the NBA players also elected a woman, Michele Roberts, as its executive director last year. Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs hired woman, former WNBA star Becky Hammon, as an assistant coach at the start of this season.

"The NBA is committed to creating a work environment that expects — and benefits from — gender equality," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said.